What do pekin bantams eat

Chopped spinach and similar greens are quite suitable and by 6 weeks of age they will enjoy boiled vegetable scraps. At this age they can be converted onto layer pellets or a scratch mix. For chickens to lay effectively they need to be well fed. They should have access to layer pellets throughout the day, preferably in a hanging feeder to keep it clean and out of reach of rats and mice, as well as daily vegetable scraps and grit.

If layer mash is being used soaking it the night before feeding makes it easier to digest so more nutrients can be readily absorbed. Fresh water needs to be available at all times and should be provided in a hanging water dispenser off the ground to keep it clean. Bantam Chickens and their coop should be sprayed with chicken safe insecticide every six weeks to kill and prevent mite and lice infestations.

Worming with a broad-spectrum wormer needs to be carried out every three months. Chickens are an animal that love to roam around and forage. When possible they should be let out to roam the garden throughout the day, however it is very important to remember to lock them back in their coop each night before dark. The skill with chicken keeping is to make them work for you, not against you, and as they can be quite destructive you should take careful consideration before letting them loose amongst your favourite plants.

If your backyard has low fencing it may be an option to trim their wings. For their foraging time outside the coop it is a good idea sprinkle a scratch mix or other grain feed around the lawn so your chickens can scratch and forage throughout the day. Chickens naturally love having dust baths, where they will flap, roll and sit in a particularly dusty patch to spread the dust throughout their feathers. This is their natural way of ridding themselves of lice and other bugs, so it is important for their well being.

It is nourishing food and supplies material for muscle, blood, bone and eggs. They form the bulk of nearly all foods and provide most of the energy required. Sunflower or Safflower seeds are a good source for the poultry diet. In addition to the above, there are some minor food elements, as follows: 4 All feeds contain some shell or lime and other mineral matters in small quantities.

In pelleted feed ash is useful to furnish material for egg-shells and feathers. It has no particular nutrient value, but is essential in giving the food a proper bulk, preventing it from packing so tightly that the digestive juices cannot reach it. It has been calculated that when food has one part of protein to about five of carbohydrates and fat or as it is usually written it is called a balance or a balanced ration. Wheat is an ideal grain for poultry and is the bread and butter of the poultry household and makes up a considerable portion of layers ration.

It is a good average ration for laying hens. Corn is considerably higher in carbohydrates. It is a splendid food on cold nights, and no matter how much a fowl has eaten it will run after more corn.

Corn, then, is a "candy" for poultry. Buckwheat is an excellent feed for hens if you can acquire it cheaply. Millet seed is rich in protein, but also has a large amount of fibre which causes trouble in little chicks, if fed exclusively. It is a good grain to mix in mashes. Hemp seed is especially rich, if expensive, feed and is useful in toning up birds for exhibition, as it puts a fine gloss on the feathers and keep them in fine condition.

Canary seed is used considerably by Bantam breeders as it tends to keep the birds small. Linseed meal and cotton-seed meal are very rich in oil and also improve the plumage. Flax is high in omega-3's which is good for the egg quality and the health of the birds.

Sunflower seed is especially rich in oil, and is said to be a good egg stimulant, and puts a good, healthy gloss on feathers.

Eggs are a good, but rather rich and concentrated food. Vegetables are valuable in feeding chickens, especially in winter when they supply the green grass elements, and nearly all are relished by fowls. Potatoes are rich in carbonaceous matter and must be cooked. Cabbage makes a splendid winter green food and is useful to induce exercise by making it necessary for the fowls to pick it. Beets, mangels, turnips and carrots are best fed whole and raw and placed where the fowls can pick at them.

It is surprising how much grass a chicken will eat when the flock is allowed to run on the grass. I have noticed from spring onwards when fresh green grass is available the eggs seem to come in greater numbers and the green pigment in grass also seems to intensify the colour in the yolk of the eggs, making it richer looking. Clover and alfalfa can be fed too. Molasses of itself has splendid food and tonic qualities. Sour milk, buttermilk, yogurt, curds or whey are good for fowl.

It can be given to drink or used to moisten the mash. All poultry supply houses now carry grit for poultry. Grit is indispensable and must be furnished to supply the gizzard with grinding material and also furnish the minerals to produce feathers. Commercial grit contains silica, magnesia, sulphur and lime.

Oyster Shell — Some use this in place of grit, but as it is composed mostly of lime, grit has some advantages over it.

Both grit and shell should be available for laying hens at all times. Charcoal is almost pure carbon, and is useful as an aid to digestion. Of course, when a careful egg record is kept, and when the fowls are weighed occasionally, these matters can be determined accurately. But this involves considerable labour, and in these days the labour costs. There are, however, four things to observe:. The healthy fowl has an appearance of its own which every keeper should know.

It is active, alert, moves about freely, the comb is red and the appetite good. The chickens that are the busiest, feed well and go to roost last with a full crop are the producers.

There are very few exceptions to this rule. The feeders - The successful poultry man does not throw down so many measures of feed and leave the hens. He pauses a moment or two and notices the eagerness with which the fowls partake of their food and later goes through the pens again to see whether all of it has been eaten up. Log in. Install the app.

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You should upgrade or use an alternative browser. Articles Member Pages. Beginners guide to pekin bantams. Author amyschickens1 Publish date Mar 25, Updated Mar 25, Leave a rating. Pekins make lovely pets and are great with children. Are you looking for some pekins than contact [email protected] and we might have some. In America people call them cochins but here in UK and Ireland we call them pekin bantams. Read on to find out more about this breed: Feeding We feed ours on bantam pellets or game pellet mix and a bit of corn but chickens love wild bird seed , mealworms and bread.

But to be honest all they really need is corn , grit in spring and once a week in winter and water. They love bread and will happily eat children's crusts. Warning - do not feed them normal chicken pellets because they are to big for them. If you do use them mash them down with water. Hutches Our bantams are kept in a long rabbit hutch. But in the past we have kept them in normal chicken hutches.

But its a lot cheaper to keep them in rabbit hutches. Warning - neither buy hutches that have nails in it and neither buy hutches if there roof could easily collapse and neither buy hutches that can easily be tippled over. Runs We keep ours free range but in the past we've kept them in a pen. The pen can be quite small it can be either wood bark or grass. Its good to add a shelter as well as the hutch.

Free Range Our Bantams are free range and they love it because of there feathered feet they can hardly scrap. But you do need to research on what predators you have around. Raccoon's, Pine martens, weasels and the odd hawk or 2 may try to get your chickens. But we see hawks Buzzards every day and they have neither attacked our bantams. Warning - make sure there are no hazardous objects or poisonous plants in your garden.